The Manticore Oppressor needs a buff, here are some suggestions

[Chro]

Greetings CMDRs, I do know things are in a very poor shape right now with Update 7 but I would like to discuss a bit about the weakest weapon currently available for on-foot combat, the Manticore Oppressor, aka Plasma Assault Rifle. Right now i'm currently standing at Mercenary Rank Elite I, I have done A LOT of ground combat and tested all weapon loadouts under every situation and even in PVP encounters against other CMDRs and I can say for sure that the Oppressor is without a doubt a bad weapon, even NPCs have a hard time using them due to its way too slow projectile speed and weak damage.

So how can it be fixed? Simple: Either double its damage to 4.8 from 2.4 (grade 5) while maintaining its slow projectile speed, so it can be used as a short range blaster OR increase its projectile speed by 75%-100% while maintaining the damage at 2.4 so it can at least fulfill its role as an Assault Rifle. Either of these changes would greatly improve the usability of this weapon and make it a viable choice to be used in ground conflict zone, as it stands right now the weapon is pretty much useless, sadly.

Hopefully these suggestions can reach FDev, and also feel free to discuss and share your thoughts on the Oppressor.

 

[Ingram]

If you look at the stats, It's more in a submachine gun position not a rifle. So I think current status is mostly ok.
Trade a little longer range with hit scan should be fair. But current projectile speed is too low that we cannot hit moving target much. That can be increased a little.

 

[Chro]

Yes I agree with you, it feels like an increase in projectile speed would totally revive this weapon, right now it feels like it has the slowest projectile speed of all the plasma weapons, even the Executioner.

 

[CMDR Brae]

I think it needs a full re-look. In my opinion, for it to really be able to hang with the other two assault rifles it needs a slight increase in effective range up to 40-45m (remember, this is supposed to be a rifle), a slight DPS buff overall, and of course a sizeable increase in projectile speed. It's damage is simply not good enough to make up for the completely unforgiving projectile speed; with such low DPS you need as many bullets to hit your target as possible to maximize and this gun just doesn't do it. It's a shame because all of the other Manticore weapons are just about where they need to be.

Also, can we be honest and admit that 80% of what makes the Oppressor the best looking gun is the fact that it's black? I have no shame in admitting that FDev is missing out on some extra cash from me by not offering a plain black skin for every gun. Instant purchase.

 

[Chro]

I think it needs a full re-look. In my opinion, for it to really be able to hang with the other two assault rifles it needs a slight increase in effective range up to 40-45m (remember, this is supposed to be a rifle), a slight DPS buff overall, and of course a sizeable increase in projectile speed. It's damage is simply not good enough to make up for the completely unforgiving projectile speed; with such low DPS you need as many bullets to hit your target as possible to maximize and this gun just doesn't do it. It's a shame because all of the other Manticore weapons are just about where they need to be.

Also, can we be honest and admit that 80% of what makes the Oppressor the best looking gun is the fact that it's black? I have no shame in admitting that FDev is missing out on some extra cash from me by not offering a plain black skin for every gun. Instant purchase.

IMHO the Oppressor is the best looking gun in the game, period. And well i guess we can all agree that an increase in projectile speed is a must for the Oppressor to be actually useful!

 

[Auhrii]

I'd be more for a damage buff, honestly - as it stands, a G5 Oppressor is (edit: was?) outclassed by any G3 carbine in terms of damage per shot, not taking resistances into account. This, coupled with carbines' much higher rate of fire and hitscan projectiles makes the Oppressor entirely redundant. I've tested my G3 Oppressor on many an unshielded target (technicians and the like) and it's painful to use as-is.

Maybe a bit of both - damage per shot and a slight projectile velocity buff.

 

[CMDR Brae]

Maybe a bit of both - damage per shot and a slight projectile velocity buff.

I think it really needs both. Increased projectile speed alone just means more shots on target but that only counts for so much when those projectiles are just soft jabs at the enemy. Visually I'm in love with it so I'm very sad I can't use it for anything beyond a low intensity CZ.

 

[Karl Oryen]

The SMG's are well balanced. Laser for shields and kinetic for armor. Plasma is high in damage, magazine size, handling, and hipfire. I played at Planetside 1 and 2 Vanu Sovereignty so the plasma weapons are in front of me because of that.

 

[Jmanis]

Oppressor seems fine as-is. It's magazine is very high capacity, and i can down (admittedly weaker) NPCs without having to switch out. That's it's main drawcard, universally ok damage output. I've tried taking down NPCs with just a kinetic or energy weapon in a single clip... unless you're looking at G5 mods it's just not a thing, but the oppressor deals with that just fine.

Is not hitscan either, but leading shots isn't hard either. Sure you might miss a few, but still more effective for instinctive firing than using the wrong weapon.

Overall, i find the oppressor a good jack of all trades but aceof none, and that's fine. Almost all my loadouts have it.

 

[Screemonster]

The oppressor suffers because it's a plasma gun trying to do what all the kinetic and laser guns do - that being high rate of fire, low-damage carbine.

The reason plasma is the meta for nearly every other application is because the other plasma guns have very bursty damage - long downtime between attacks, but those attacks will allow you to basically one-shot people (or at the very least, cause a huge amount of damage) before returning to cover, which is ideal for the kind of "take cover when your shield drops" gameplay that EDO encourages, while the laser/kinetic weapons and the oppressor are terrible at dropping people before they return fire, get their shield up or call for help, which makes them poor for stealth gameplay too.

If there were kinetic or laser guns that did what the tormentor or executioner do (a high-damage, slow-RoF kinetic sniper that can't one-shot shields but makes mincemeat of unshielded suits, for instance) then you'd see people using those too.

As it stands, the laser and kinetic weapons are unfavoured because none of them do the kind of spiky-damage that EDO's game mechanics really favour, and the oppressor isn't favoured because it's trying to fill the same role that all of those are trying to fill.

 

[CMDR Brae]

Oppressor seems fine as-is. It's magazine is very high capacity, and i can down (admittedly weaker) NPCs without having to switch out. That's it's main drawcard, universally ok damage output. I've tried taking down NPCs with just a kinetic or energy weapon in a single clip... unless you're looking at G5 mods it's just not a thing, but the oppressor deals with that just fine.

Is not hitscan either, but leading shots isn't hard either. Sure you might miss a few, but still more effective for instinctive firing than using the wrong weapon.

Overall, i find the oppressor a good jack of all trades but aceof none, and that's fine. Almost all my loadouts have it.

I would urge you try using it at any combat zone other than Low Intensity. It becomes damn near useless and at G3-5 is entirely outclassed by both the Aphelion and the AR50.

 

[Jmanis]

I would urge you try using it at any combat zone other than Low Intensity. It becomes damn near useless and at G3-5 is entirely outclassed by both the Aphelion and the AR50.

I do use the plasma rifle as a matter of routine in high CZs. Things go fine for me.

Note: this isn't a showcase, my first two deaths early are potato and bad.

Source: https://youtu.be/DlQVVAk_l3s

The advantages of the Plasma Rifle for me aren't measured in DPS, but in convenience. Against a mixed group of shielded and unshielded targets, I don't want to be constantly switching weapons as I move between priority targets. The Oppressor is capable of dealing effective (certainly not the best, but still effective) damage against shielded and unshielded targets, so I literally don't have to worry. I can keep damage coming onto the enemies regardless, forcing them to cover[1] where needed and eliminating elsewhere.

In the above video, I take the Oppressor and AR50 out because Oppressor is effective at stripping shields (Again, not as fast as the Aphelion) but is also effective at damaging an unshielded target. Again, not as good as the AR50, but I can apply fire faster than when I have to switch to the correct weapon which, again, is important for controlling the battlefield.

Again, raw DPS? No argument from me. But the Oppressor has much greater utility than the Aphelion or AR50.

• Magazine lasts longer, allowing you to stay in the fight much longer and more reliably deal with targets of opportunity.
• Reasonable damage against shields and armour.
• More time in the fight thanks to less time switching.

In particular, if I engage an unshielded target late with the Oppressor and the enemies shields come back up, I don't have to bother switching back to the Aphelion (if I'd gone to the AR50), I can happily maintain pressure and down the target without switching.

I'm also happy to say I am a potato when it comes to FPS in general, so maybe the AR50 and Aphelion don't work for me and the Oppressor does simply because I'm average at FPS. In that case, that's another advantage for the Oppressor; lower bar of entry. Alternately, maybe the Oppressor simply isn't a weapon system that works for your style. Neither are great reasons to change anything with it though.

[1] The mechanics behind this aspect of the fighting is actually something FD have pulled off really well.

 

[mr. Duck]

The Oppressor was the first "assault" rifle I bought because it looks so cool. Sadly, it was also useless for me due to the very low projectile speed, which makes it pretty much impossible to hit moving targets at long ranges. It's basically the reason why I also ditched the "sniper" rifle.

I use a G5 Aphelion with greater range mod, works awesome.

Edit:
Yes, a projectile speed bump would be (very) nice, and also some black weapon skins for the other non plasma weapons please.

 

[Vardaugas]

Quadruple the ammunition, half the damage, double the RoF and increase projectile speed. Now you have a suppressive fire machine gun.

 

[Flimley]

The whole game needs a buff


Flimley

 

[Diwrnach]

Quadruple the ammunition, half the damage, double the RoF and increase projectile speed. Now you have a suppressive fire machine gun.

...and change its name to Suppressor.

 

[CMDR Brae]

The advantages of the Plasma Rifle for me aren't measured in DPS, but in convenience. Against a mixed group of shielded and unshielded targets, I don't want to be constantly switching weapons as I move between priority targets. The Oppressor is capable of dealing effective (certainly not the best, but still effective) damage against shielded and unshielded targets, so I literally don't have to worry. I can keep damage coming onto the enemies regardless, forcing them to cover[1] where needed and eliminating elsewhere.

In the above video, I take the Oppressor and AR50 out because Oppressor is effective at stripping shields (Again, not as fast as the Aphelion) but is also effective at damaging an unshielded target. Again, not as good as the AR50, but I can apply fire faster than when I have to switch to the correct weapon which, again, is important for controlling the battlefield.

4:36-4:42 in your video is a prime example of the main issue with the Oppressor, which is the fact that it's an assault rifle that is entirely ineffective at assault rifle range. At that particular point in your video you landed 3-4 shots when the NPC was stationary and the moment they started moving you missed literally every single shot. I know you say you're "potato" at FPS but take it from someone who isn't (not claiming to be a pro by any means but I've been playing FPS games for the majority of my life and consider myself at least above average) it's not intuitive to aim this gun, nor should you have to lead shots nearly as much as it seems you do to have decent time on target.

I would point to your video again right at the 6 minute mark. Let it ride for about 20 seconds and I'd say pretty clearly the footage speaks for itself. The only time you seem to really be hitting people with the Oppressor is if they're damn near in your face but that's optimal range for an SMG or shotgun, NOT an assault rifle. You don't seem to struggle as much hitting targets with the AR50 so it's not something that can be totally blamed on your skills as a player, and that's a problem because with both of those guns being in the same class, they should have relatively similar effective ranges but they absolutely don't.

Can't hit targets at range and has pretty poor damage on targets at close proximity. It needs a buff.

 

[Maolagin]

Oppressor seems fine as-is. It's magazine is very high capacity, and i can down (admittedly weaker) NPCs without having to switch out. That's it's main drawcard, universally ok damage output. I've tried taking down NPCs with just a kinetic or energy weapon in a single clip... unless you're looking at G5 mods it's just not a thing, but the oppressor deals with that just fine.

Is not hitscan either, but leading shots isn't hard either. Sure you might miss a few, but still more effective for instinctive firing than using the wrong weapon.

Overall, i find the oppressor a good jack of all trades but aceof none, and that's fine. Almost all my loadouts have it.

This highlights the other problem with balancing the Oppressor - you've just described to a T why almost all my loadouts have a Tormentor sidearm. Between the other three plasma weapons, I'm hard-pressed to see how to adjust the Oppressor without making it even more redundant with one of the others.

Look at the kinetic weapons - the fourth KA weapon is the rocket launcher, which is a fundamentally different thing than the others. Whether you find it useful or not, it's impossible to argue that it doesn't bring something new. The laser weapons only have the three variants, and they seem fine. Maybe the answer here is that the plasma weapons just didn't need a fourth variant.

 

[CMDR Brae]

This highlights the other problem with balancing the Oppressor - you've just described to a T why almost all my loadouts have a Tormentor sidearm. Between the other three plasma weapons, I'm hard-pressed to see how to adjust the Oppressor without making it even more redundant with one of the others.

Look at the kinetic weapons - the fourth KA weapon is the rocket launcher, which is a fundamentally different thing than the others. Whether you find it useful or not, it's impossible to argue that it doesn't bring something new. The laser weapons only have the three variants, and they seem fine. Maybe the answer here is that the plasma weapons just didn't need a fourth variant.

100%, but I'd still like them to get it in a useful state. I'd also like them to add more weapons down the road overall whether they're redundant or not, just for variety's sake. Imagine a heavy plasma gun that works like an on-foot railgun, or a beam laser/burst laser handheld, or a kinetic shotgun and sniper, a couple of LMG's, etc. There's so much potential to really enhance and diversify the on-foot kits and some of it is just sitting there waiting to be coopted from the ship weapons. I'd also love to see additional suits cosmetics pretty soon, but I'm torn on actually adding new suits overall for fear of it turning into Warframe.

Edit: A mining suit. They could add a mining suit for on-foot mining outside of an SRV and maybe make it a trade-off of speed vs. yield? SRV can shoot and scoop really quickly but on foot you get more yield from your tool per material because time spent is higher? Spitballing here but I think that's a gameplay loop they should explore.

 

[Jmanis]

4:36-4:42 in your video is a prime example of the main issue with the Oppressor, which is the fact that it's an assault rifle that is entirely ineffective at assault rifle range. At that particular point in your video you landed 3-4 shots when the NPC was stationary and the moment they started moving you missed literally every single shot. I know you say you're "potato" at FPS but take it from someone who isn't (not claiming to be a pro by any means but I've been playing FPS games for the majority of my life and consider myself at least above average) it's not intuitive to aim this gun, nor should you have to lead shots nearly as much as it seems you do to have decent time on target.

I would point to your video again right at the 6 minute mark. Let it ride for about 20 seconds and I'd say pretty clearly the footage speaks for itself. The only time you seem to really be hitting people with the Oppressor is if they're damn near in your face but that's optimal range for an SMG or shotgun, NOT an assault rifle. You don't seem to struggle as much hitting targets with the AR50 so it's not something that can be totally blamed on your skills as a player, and that's a problem because with both of those guns being in the same class, they should have relatively similar effective ranges but they absolutely don't.

Can't hit targets at range and has pretty poor damage on targets at close proximity. It needs a buff.

Just want to clarify; when you're talking about hitting things at "assault rifle" range, you're talking ED's assault rifle range, which is something like 50m.

But nonetheless, I'd like to point out some other bits of the video
4:58 - I fluff that because I went in with the AR50 to a guy I knew to be on stale half-health. When his shields came back up it was only luck that an ally knocked his shields. Should've had the Plamsa Rifle there.

7:02 - My accuracy is pretty much same same as the AR50 and Plasma Rifle against the same target doing the same thing in both cases there.

8:09 - Great example of what the Plasma Rifle is good at; general purpose damage against an unknown target. If I'd had the Aphelion out, I probably couldn't have downed that target as quickly. Sure, the AR50 would have downed it quicker, but it would have also been shafted if they had shields. If they did have shields (like in 4:58) I could have still applied effective damage without switching.

8:46 - Single clip, near-fully shielded target, killed without switching/reloading. AR50 or Aphelion simply could not do that. Is it close range? Sure, but neither of the other two assault rifles could do that.

11:16 - Another great example of going in with the wrong weapon. Oppressor would have downed that target.

I'd point out as well, 4:36-4:42 is a directly left-right moving target. Maybe it's because I regularly use rifles IRL, but firing at a target like that is hard, and you must lead your shots with a "real" rifle... getting myself to hit a target like that hit-scan with an AR50 is completely unintuitive for me (even though that's exactly what you need to do here), and if we used magic and filmed that same sequence again with the AR50, I'd be equally inaccurate.

One of the biggest reasons I use the Oppressor is, funnily enough, as a support weapon, but not support like an LMG (they have their own issues, and changing the Oppressor to function like a suppression/LMG type weapon won't work in a game where you respawn near-instantly on death[1]) but rather support in that NPC allies suck at changing weapons. They'll happily potato at an enemy with shields using an AR50 or an unshielded target with the Aphelion. My tactics almost always involve pairing with the group and fighting other groups, and downing the shields of targets being hit with an AR50, and cleaning up the targets whose shields have been melted by an Aphelion. The high-capacity mag lets me stay in the fight longer, because the longer I spend behind cover reloading or switching weapons for the target, the more opportunity there is for the enemy to regain shields or get out of the fight.

I still think part of the problem is you're comparing the Oppressor to the things it's bad at, but not comparing the things it's better at. If you compare the Oppressor to what other rifles are good at, and buff it to match or at least be "competitve", then you're just making the Oppressor the next FOTM meta, and making two assault rifles redundant.

EDIT: I'd concede the term plasma "Rifle" might be a misnomer here. But functionally, the weapon is still sound to me.

[1] The employment of LMGs is as a suppression weapon. Suppression requires the fear of death... in Elite, a single shot isn't going to kill anyone, much less wound them. Turning the Oppressor into an LMG like some suggestions would be an awful idea... coz it'd either be totally OP, or still in the same (perceived) place as now.